The Best Is Yet To Come
Posted on Nov 30, 2014 by David Whetter
Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who abides in which of us. Amen
Well, it is a new year in the church and that means the Season of Advent has now begun. Which means, although the rest of the world is now in full Christmas mode, we Lutherans, and many other mainline church folks, are supposed to not recognize the Christmas Season, yet. You see, Advent is the time before the Christmas Season when we Christians are supposed to focus on things like waiting, preparing and anticipating the coming again of Christ. Advent is that time of year when we are challenged to ignore what the rest of the world is doing in the here and now and focus on the future, for we know that the best is yet to come. So, here at church, no Christmas decorations, yet; no Christmas carols, yet, and definitely no celebrating, yet.
But as I prepared to talk to you about waiting for, and preparing for and anticipating the coming of Christ and the bright future that awaits us, which is what we preachers do every Advent season, I realized that the problem with this popular notion of Advent is that apparently no one told Mark, or Isaiah about this idea waiting.
Did you listen to both our texts this morning? Neither of them focused on the anticipated future. No, as I read these texts, the main focus of both of them is presence. That is the presence of God in this world right now, despite our preparation and waiting and anticipation. Oh, Christ will come again, that is God’s promise, but we just don’t know when, but just as important and somehow often overlooked is that Christ is here now, also.
In Isaiah, the prophet laments on how bad things are in the here and now of his time and then he calls upon God not to wait to the future, but to bring healing and prosperity to his people now, as he had promised and done in the past. Don’t wait Isaiah says, “do it now!”
As Mark tells his story, he challenges us to “Keep Awake,” as we anticipate Christ’s return, but just as important is the notion that we ought to remember that while we wait, Christ waits with us. When Christ returns the end will come Jesus says. “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mark 13:31). So, is the end at hand, absolutely! But, it might take a long time, so we ought to live our lives as though the end is at hand and we ought to “dig-in” for the long-haul. But, instead of becoming preoccupied with the end times, we are counseled to live our lives in a state of preparedness, trusting God is coming once again to dwell with us. Live in the here and now, all the while knowing, the best is yet to come
Maybe this Advent Season, instead of just focusing on our future, we ought to also reorient our present. Instead of ignoring the joy of Christmas that we know is around the corner, maybe as we prepare our lives for the coming again of Christ, we ought to enjoy and participate that Christmas spirit in the here and now, for we know the best is yet to come. Now, I am not saying we should ditch Advent and jump right to Christmas, but maybe Mark is inviting us to imagine Advent differently this year. Just like we have been invited to Imagine Greater what God is calling Salem to be and do, maybe we ought to imagine Advent differently, too.
What if we translated or reimagined that when Jesus says “keep awake,” we understood him to mean as “be present. Live in the moment.” Keep awake does not have to only mean wait for the future because it will be better, what if Jesus meant participate in the present, the good and the bad, but also, know that the best is yet to come. Now I am not talking just about whether our not we should sing Christmas carols during the season of Advent. No, I am talking about living all of life in the here and now, constantly trying to bring about God’s preferred future.
This past Monday night, the world watched as the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney, Robert P. McCulloch, announced the decision of the Grand Jury not to indict the police officer, Darren Wilson, who shot and killed Michael Brown on August 9. That decision brought joy to those felt the “system” did its job and it angered others who felt the “system” is flawed and stacked against certain communities. Regardless of which side of that equation you fall on, when Jesus says “keep awake,” he is telling us that we can’t stop now that the Grand Jury’s work is done. Now, we have to live with that decision, but we need to find peaceful ways to deal with the injustices and prejudices that really do exist in this world, especially in places like Ferguson, in the inner city of Kansas City, and many other communities all around this country. Keep awake, Jesus says, recognize the violence and difficult lives that exist for many in this world and find ways to deal with those systemic issue now, so that we can be prepared for the coming of our Lord again.
We don’t have to wait for Jesus’ coming again to begin creating a world in which violence is not an automatic response to things we don’t like. Advent is not about sitting back and doing nothing and just waiting. It is a time to recognize that Christ has come, he is here now and he will come again. We should live as though we are certain he is here now and in doing so, we ought to be seeking to bring about his justice all the time.
When life is too much about future realities, accomplishments, completed tasks, then where is the present? To what extent the present is simply preparation for the future and has nothing to do with living in the moment? This Advent, let’s “keep awake,” while we focus on a present that Isaiah says is tearing open the heavens and coming down (Isaiah 64:1). Let’s trust that God is in the here and now, even in places like Ferguson, and he is seeking for us to bring about his shalom for the future.
Advent’s waiting, preparation, and anticipation is the promise that our present will indeed be changed, soon. In his call for us to stay keep awake, Christ is calling us in to a countercultural existence for the sake of bringing about a change that is desperately needed in this broken, violent world.
Brothers and sisters, as we begin this Advent Season, let us recognize that the best is yet to come and that because Christ is present now, the reality of our anticipated future is most certainly better. This world will change, with or without us, but wouldn’t it be great if we were part of that change. As Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away…” (Mark 13:31) so while we await this passing of these evil times, let us be assured that Christ is alive and well in the present working through us to bring about the best that is yet to come. Amen